Sotheby’s has set a new record for J.M.W. Turner during its December 3 Old Masters and British Paintings Evening sale in London, selling the artist’s “Rome, from Mount Aventine” for £30.3 million ($47.4 million) against an estimate of £15-20 million. The previous record for the artist of £29.7 million ($45.1 million) was set by Sotheby’s in 2010 with the painting “Modern Rome - Campo Vaccino.”Turner’s “Rome, from Mount Aventine,” which Sotheby’s describes as “one of the greatest masterpieces of British art left in private hands,” was last seen on the market in 1878 and has been in the same collection for the past 136 years, according to Sotheby’s.Commenting on the sale, Alex Bell, Joint International Department Head, Co-Chairman Worldwide of Sotheby’s Old Master Paintings Department, said “It is hard to overstate the importance of Rome, from Mount Aventine. There are no more than half a dozen major works by Turner left in private hands and this work must rank as one of the very finest.“This painting, which is nearly 200 years old, looks today as if it has come straight from the easel of the artist; never relined and never subject to restoration, the picture retains the freshness of the moment it was painted: the hairs from Turner’s brush, his fingerprint, the drips of liquid paint which have run down the edge of the canvas, and every scrape of his palette knife have been preserved in incredible detail.”Follow @UK_ARTINFO
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